Massacre In Bahrain, Silence From Obama

@NickKristof King Hamad of #Bahrain will never regain credibility after attacking peaceful protesters as they slept. Blood is forever on his hands.
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A trauma surgeon from Salmaniya hospital was in an intensive care ward after being attacked at the roundabout camp, then handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/17/arab-capitals-braced-violence-bahrain



US media may be less connected to this particular Arab uprising. But this brazen attack, in the presence of traditional media members, could raise the profile. Here’s ABC’s Miguel Marquez:

In an audio clip of the attack, which was posted on the ABC News Web site, Mr. Marquez can be heard pleading with his attackers — “No! No! No! Hey, I’m a journalist here!” — and then retreating from the square, where he said the police were aggressively trying to clear the crowds.

“I’m hit,” he says anxiously. “I just got beat rather badly by a gang of thugs. I’m now in a marketplace near our hotel where people are cowering in buildings.’
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And NPR’s Peter Kenyon:

Steve, I’m at the Salmaniya hospital, where many of the wounded and dead were brought initially. I have to say, uh, I have just seen one of the more gruesome sites in 10 years of covering the Middle East. I was in the mortuary. I saw a man lying on a gurney. The top of his head was literally blown off.

The injuries have been widespread — clubbing and some shot and rubber-bullet injuries. Paramedics who were trying to get to the scene told me they were pulled from their ambulances and dragged to the ground and beaten.
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This gets mixed up with the entire Sunni-Shiite power balance in the Middle East, the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. And it leads to silence when a king tries to massacre peaceful protesters while they sleep.

Or, if you want to be polite, you can call it a diplomatic puzzle.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/02/17/bahraini-massacre-met-with-little-more-than-concern-from-us/
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The Bahrain Center for Human Rights was reporting throughout the night that:

@BahrainRights “children missing after police fired tear gas/rubber bullets upon sleeping women/children #Bahrain sq.”

@BahrainRights RT @maryamalkhawaja: Paramedics: “we removed injured while they were being beaten by riot police who said they had orders to do so” #bahrain

@BahrainRights 3 hours from the attack ambulances still arriving at Salmanya hospital with injured victims #Bahrain

@BahrainRights “@angryarabiya: An 8 year old girl was trampled during attack, in ICU now. #bahrain #feb14 #lulu”

@BahrainRights Dr.Mansoor Aljamri reports attacks on doctors and nurses at Emergency room #Bahrain #feb14 #lulu

Andy Carvin of NPR has been translating some of the Arabic tweets from Bahrain:

@acarvin Uh oh RT @gfry: _TRANSLATED_ # Bahrain # lulu Saudi forces stationed near King Fahd Causeway on the Saudi side in case of any emergency

@acarvin _TRANSLATED_ RT @ Dr_Murtadha: over 60 tanks moving around the country # Bahrain # feb14 # lulu
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@acarvin TRANSLATED_ URGENT: Bahrain calls for all hospital doctors and nurses to immediately go to the emergency departments

http://firedoglake.com/2011/02/17/bahrains-brutal-crackdown-continues-overnight-libya-day-of-rage-today/
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Bahrain's Progressive Democratic Forum Appeals for Solidarityby Hussein Ureybi

Bahrain's Progressive Democratic Forum issues the following statement as the Bahrain's rulers deploy riot police and mercenaries to attack peaceful protesters camped in Pearl Square.

Dear comrades,

Security forces raided at dawn today on Pearl Square, which was the centre of protests in the Bahraini capital Manama, and used all means of force, including exploding bullets, to disperse the protestors and to seize the square.

This led to the deaths of at least 5 people and injuries to hundreds of others. They also surrounded the Sulamanieyh hospital where the wounded and the martyrs were supposed to be taken. The Bahraini people's protests were peaceful in every sense of the word.

We are calling for reform, social justice and negotiation with the executive power. The video footage shows a peaceful crowd chanting as they receive a barrage of rubber bullets and tear gas.

Everything was normal until 1 am, but then the treacherous security forces attacked the protesters, including women and children, beat foreign media correspondents and confiscated their cameras.

The security forces are still surrounding the entrances to a number of villages and searching homes.

What we've seen are dozens of tanks deployed in different areas of Bahrain and news reports on the use of Saudi military.

We invite you to call for a demonstration of solidarity in front of Bahrain's embassies or any of the headquarters of the Organization of the United Nations and send messages of protest to the embassies of Bahrain and international agencies in your countries, on Friday 18 February at 3 in the afternoon.

That the Bahraini people need in these times the courage to struggle this tyrannical regime.

Hussein Ureybi

Coordinator General for External Relations
Progressive Democratic Forum